Dreams usually defy logic, but I still like to at least TRY explaining them. It's fun. And we're all writers here, endowed with a good amount of combined creativity, so I figure I can get some good input on my questions. I don't expect definite answers on some of these, and I'm not really looking for dream interpretation, just the most logical explanations for some of my sleeping ideas. So here goes nothing:

My boyfriend got kidnapped by some secret agency or some crap. I chased them, and they caught me too. At some point during the struggle, they injected him with this serum. As night fell, he turned into a werecat. Then the people tried to shove us into a cell. We fought back, so they shot my boyfriend multiple times with silver arrows. Then he turned back human and they left us alone.

Not long after, the part of the building we were being held in (which was a grocery store) took off into space. They were trying to see how different distances from the moon affected my boyfriend's werecat transformations. He transformed 2 more times. Both times, the people came to run tests, my boyfriend attacked them, he got shot, and the arrows made him turn human again for awhile.

They never separated us or bothered me. I guess they thought I was too little to be dangerous, or maybe that I'd keep my boyfriend tame. Well, I eventually attacked the people the 4th time they opened the cell. Guess they thought I'd just leave those arrows in my boyfriend and not use them as weapons. Then I bailed, half-carrying my my boyfriend, and headed for the cockpit of the spaceship. We each got shot a few more times (a total of 15 for him), but we made it to the cockpit and locked the door.

So....

1: Why would they use bows instead of guns? I read somewhere that silver bullets would be inaccurate, but that's all I can think of.

2: Why would the full moon even cause transformations? Something to do with the tides? The wavelength of the reflected sunlight? Both? How would different distances/angles from the moon affect a werecreature? Actually being on the moon? What about the moon of another planet? Or if the moon broke?

3: Would thick fur be any protection from arrows?

4: Why silver, aside from any spiritual significance? In my dream, it seemed to be more of an antidote than a poison.

5: Could lower or higher gravity affect the accuracy and effectiveness of ranged weapons?

6: Why aren't werecats as popular as werewolves?

Chris P

03-24-2014, 10:04 AM

Wow, I haven't had dreams that long, involved, or consistent since I was on mephloquine to prevent malaria. I have some thoughts on some of your questions, actually.

1. Dunno. Silver arrows would indeed fly more true than silver bullets, which would deform in the barrel after being fired. Or perhaps it gives it a more archaic feel. In dreams, there's nothing archaic about a spaceship, as long as it's an archaic spaceship. Um, yeah.

2. Nocturnal animals are more active during the full moon simply because they can see better. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. For fantasical creatures, however, you can make it however you want. I like the idea that the gravity of the moon when it is closer (which might not be during the full moon) affects them, but I never thought about what would happen if they were in a spaceship and the gravity gets stronger. Perhaps the pineal gland in the brain, which is tied to sleep/wake cycles and (if I remember right) responds to light/dark cycles goes haywire if it doesn't get dark enough at night.

3. Yeah, it would be. The spines of hedgehogs and porcupines, as well as the armor of pangolins and armadillos is just fused hair. I don't see any reason a werecat's hair couldn't be thick and lay in such a way as to provide protection from arrows. Just so long as it's not so heavy or bulky as to inhibit movement.

4. If you needed a pseudo-scientific reason for the purposes of a story, copper, silver and gold are all in the same column on the periodic table. Perhaps some properties of that group of elements react with whatever causes the transformation. Perhaps the metal ions provide cofactors for whatever pineal gland enzyme is going wonky-doos and corrects the problem? Silver does it better than copper, and gold would be too expensive? But if that was the case, the character could just suck on an old quarter or silver token. But then again, maybe it could be that simple.

5. Gravity absolutely would affect the accuracy of a weapon. A projectile fired parallel to the ground will lose altitude at the same rate as an object released from the hand. If a solider fired his gun at the exact instant a gnome fell off the soldier's shoulder, the gnome and the bullet would hit the ground at exactly the same time. Increase gravity, increase the rate at which an object falls. An artillery gunner on another planet would have to correct for the different gravity.

6. Dunno this one.

bearilou

03-24-2014, 03:43 PM

Not gonna lie, I didn't read the dreams. I find other peoples dreams dreadfully boring. :/

The rest look to be questions of world building which means you can do whatever you want in the way of explanations for the way things work. Right now, I'm smoothing out a reason how a werewolf would change if he was in space and didn't have the rhythms of a moon to work as a guide. Just another world building question that will need to be answered.

I suspect for the werecat vs werewolves problem may be that many people like the pack/tribe/community aspect of the werewolves, where werecats may be like their counterpart and be more solitary?

kkbe

03-24-2014, 05:10 PM

I'm driving a bus, ten characters on it and I have to get them from Point A to Point B before they drive me insane--

Oh wait, that's my dream. :)

You dreamed about your boyfriend in trouble. He turns into a werecat, then back into his 'authentic' self, etc., etc. He is put to the test. You come to his rescue, eventually. The number 15 is important for some reason. . .

I think dreams are a manifestation of conflict or unresolved issues we're dealing with consciously and/or unconsciously; rendered with imagery from our imaginations or plucked from our day-to-day lives; creatively woven into a tapestry that holds no meaning for anybody but the dreamer.

Alas, I don't know what your dream means. You dreamed within the context of your life and I don't know your life, ergo. . .